Manure spreader



Feb- 29, 1944- H. M. JOHNSTON MANURE SPREADER Original Filed June 25, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. //o WARD /7 Joy/rs 70/1 Feb. 29, 1944. 2 H, M, JOHNSTON 2,342,942

, 4/ IN V EN TOR.

HOWARD N JOHNSTON BY A TToR/YEY Patented Feb. 29, 1944 MANURE SPREADER Howard M. Johnston, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

assignor to Masse ronto, Ontario, Canada Original application June 25, I938, Serial No.

215,595, now Patent No. 2,274,481, dated February 24, 1942.

y-Harris Company Ltd., To-

Divlded and this application January 21, 1942, Serial No. 427,586

1 Claim. (Cl. 212-65) It is the intention that the present patent shall cover by suitable expression in the appended claim, features of patentable novelty other than claimed in my Patent No. 2,274,481, dated February 24, 1942, of which this application is a division. 7

The present invention relates to a tractor drawn and operated spreader having two ground wheels which are positioned preferably somewhat in rear of the longitudinal center of the box, the front end having a rigid hitch which extends a distance forward of the box whereby the device will be made stable after being connectedto the tractor and act as a twowheel trailer to the tractor.

The present invention further relates to means for driving thespreader cylinders and feed apron by a connection to the tractor power take-ofi.

My invention further relates to a novel manually controlled power. operated loader being operable by any person capable .of operating a tractor.

The object of the present invention, generally 2-2 of Figure 1.

- Fig. 3 is a top view of the hitch and a fraction of the box illustrating the preferred manner of transferring the power from the primary to the secondary shaft. v

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevation of the adjustable hitch clevis.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view of the left side of the spreader illustrating theapron operating device.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the ratchet mechanism taken on line 6-6 of Figure 5.

Fig. '1 is a transverse horizontally sectioned view of the gear box.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged top view illustrating the power take-ofi connection from the secondary shaft to the loading Windlass.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged elevation of the loading standard.

As thus illustrated, the boxof the spreader is designated in its entirety by reference character A having a suitably positioned axle 20 upon which are mounted ground wheels 2|.

I provide a rigid tractor hitch comprising hitch bars 22 which are, at their rear ends, suitably secured to the box and converging forwardly terminating as at 23 and being secured together at their forward ends by means of a formed and downwardly extending bracket 24. The front edge is provided with a number of vertically spaced apertures 25, whereby a clevis 26 may be secured to any one of the apertures by means of bolt 21 to thereby provide convenient. and vertically adjustable attaching means to the tractor draw bar 28 through a linch pin 29. It will be seen that I have provided a two wheel trailer adapted to be pulled by a tractor and. having means for vertical adjustment at its front end.

I provide preferably a transverse brace bar which is mounted on hitch bars 22 in the position illustrated. A primary shaft 36 is rotatably mounted on bar 35 by means of a suitable bearing 31 (see Figure 3)- and being provided on its front end with a universal joint 38 having a shaft 39, the front end (not shown) being preferably supplied with asplined member and a universal joint which is adapted to be attached to the power'take-oif shaft of the tractor; thus to provide sufllcient flexibility forturning and moving over uneven ground.

I provide a secondary shaft 40 which is preferably rotatably mounted at its front end to the front end of box A by means of bracket 4| and bearing 42. I provide preferably a sprocket 43 which is preferably secured to the rear end of primary shaft 36 and I mount a suitable sprocket 44 on the front end of shaft 40 and being positioned in alignment with sprocket 43, the sprockets being operatively connected by means of a chain 45; thus shaft 40 will be driven by the power take-off of the tractor, the direction of rotation being as indicated in Figure 3 by curvilinear arrow.

I provide aspreader rotor, a heater rotor and a transmission, each being designated in its entirety by reference characters B, C and D respectively.

RotorB is carried by shaft one end of which is rotatably mounted on the inner member 5| of the transmission housing as at 52. I mount a bevel gear 53 on shaft 50 as clearly illustrated in Figure '7 and provide an outer gear box covering 54 which is suitably secured to member III as illustrated.

I provide a pinion 55 which is secured to the inner end of counter shaft 89, this shaft being rotatably mounted in a housing 51 as at 58 and 59. The other end of shaft 50 is rotatably mounted on the box as at 80. Rotor C is provided with a shaft 6| which is rotatably mounted on the box A as at 02 and 03. I mount a chain sprocket 64 on the protruding end of shaft 50 and another sprocket 05 is positioned in alignment with sprocket 64 and suitably secured to shaft 6|.

Sprockets 64 and 65 are operatively connected by means of chain 86. Thus it will be seen that rotors B and C will turn in the same direction and as illustrated by curvilinear arrows in Figure 2.

I secure spiral members 81 and 68 to shaft 50. These spirals wind in opposite directions as illustrated, and are secured to shaft 50 by welding or otherwise.

I provide suitably shaped teeth 69 on the periphery of members 61 and 68, thus when member B is turned the teeth cooperating with the spirals will effectively move across the entire width of the box and act to tear apart the material being supplied to the rotor and spread it rearwardly and outwardly fan-like.

The top of box A is a considerable distance above the top of rotor B and therefore the rearwardly moving material in the box might be carried in bulk over the top of rotor B. I provide novel means for preventing this by mounting a number of evenly spaced discs I on shaft BI, these discs being placed at an angle on the shaft (See Figure 2) their peripheries being toothed similar to members 61 and 88 as at II; thus as the material approaches rotor B, rotor C will act to prevent it from passing in bulk over rotor B and will assist in loosening the material and spread it forward in the box.

Clearly the sides of disc I0 will be caused to travel at opposite angles during every revolution of shaft GI; thus the staggered and alternate movement of teeth 'II will completely break up the surface of the material as it approaches the rotor and act very similar to the teeth on rotor B except in rotor B th action of the teeth and spirals will be to spread the material fan-like as it passes over the rotor whereas the discs I0 will act to move the surplus material forwardly. In order to prevent the material from getting out of bounds as it is broken up and spread by the rotors, I provide a hood I2, the action of which will be understood without further description.

By referring to Figure 1, it will be noted that -I provide a clutch member I3 which is secured to the forward end of shaft 56 and a collar I4, a spring I5 and another clutch member I6 having an operating connection to a lever 11, the lever being pivotally mounted as at 18.

I provide a rod I9 which extends forwardly and is operatively connected to lever 80, this lever being pivoted to the box as at 8I and having a sector 82, the sector being provided with a notch (not shown) whereby the lever may be moved and locked in its rear position to thereby disengage the clutch and when freed it will permit spring I5 to yieldingly engage the clutch members, the teeth in the clutch member being beveled to thereby permit slipping as a precaution against injury to the moving parts. Lever 80 is positioned at the forward end of the box so as to be within convenient reach of the operator when seated on the tractor.

I provide a conventional apron 85 for moving the material in the box rearwardly in the following manner:

The apron at its forward end is carried b sprockets 08 and in the rear by driving sprockets 81. The apron is provided with cross bars which pass over the top surface of the bottom of the box; thus when sprockets 81 are turned in the direction indicated by arrow, the upper half of the apron will travel rearwardly to thereby move the material toward the rotors.

In order to satisfactorily spread and deliver a suitable quantity of material over the surface of the ground it is necessary to provide means whereby the speed of the apron 85 may be conveniently varied by the operator. I provide an apron driving and carrying shaft 9| and mount a rachet wheel on the protruding and of the shaft. I rotatably support a shield 92 on opposite sides of this rachet as at 93 and 94 (see Figure 6). Member 92 acts to shield the rachet from falling dirt and material.

I provide a crank 95 which is preferably secured to the protruding end of shaft IiI as illustrated, this crank having a pivotal connection to member 92 as at 96 through a pitman comprising a rod 91 and a link 98, the link having a bridge as at 99. The upper end of member 98 and member 99 have orifices for the free reception of rod 91.

I secure a collar I00 to member 91 and mount a spring I 0| between this collar and bridge 99 thus member 92 will be oscillated by crank 95. A rachet dog I02 is pivotally mounted on member 92 as at I03 and a spring I04 is positioned so as to move the free end of the rachet into engagement with rachet teeth I05; thus when member 92 is oscillated on its support, ratchet wheel 90 will be caused to turn in the direction indicated by curvilinear arrow.

Crank 95 will have a length whereby member 92 wil1 be oscillated over a range of four or more rachet teeth.. This will cause the apron to travel at maximum speed. To reduce the speed of the apron, I provide means-whereby rachet member I02 may be optionally caused to pass over any desired number of teeth per each revolution of the crank.

I pivotally mount a bell crank I06 on member A as at I01, the upper end of this bell crank being operatively connected to the controlling" lever I08 by means of a rod I09. Lever I08 is pivoted as at I I0 and is provided with a sector II I having a number of notches I I2 and a latch I I3, whereby the lever may be moved to and held in various positions, the design being such that when the lever is held in its rear position, point II4 of the bell crank will permit full oscillation of member Member I I l of the bell crank is adapted to contact surface I I5 when lever I08 is moved forward; thus this member Ill maybe caused to contact surface H5 at various positions in its downward movement, the time of contacting depending upon the position of lever I08. Spring IOI acts to permit transmitting more or less of the crank movement to member 92. It will be seen that the speed of sprockets 81 will vary according to the position of lever I08.

It will be seen that I have provided a manure spreader adapted to be pulled by a tractor and supplied with power from the power take-off of the tractor, that I have provided means for evenly spreading the manure to any degree of thickness on the ground and convenient means for throwing the spreading mechanism in and out of gear.

One of the hard tasks on the farm is loading the spreader. The manure is frequently difficult to handle with a hand fork. I have providedmeans for making use of the tractor power for loading the manure into the box in the following manner:

I provide a two bar standard I20 which is pivotally mounted to box A as at I2I and I22. A sector I23 is preferably secured to member I 2i and is provided with a number of spaced notches I24.

I provide a forked lever I25 which is preferably hingedly secured to member I20 as at I26 and having a projection I21 which is adapted to engage notches I24 when the lever is in its lowest position; thus by lifting member I25, standard I20 may be swung to any desired position.

I provide a horizontally extended arm I28 which is suitably secured to member I20 as illustrated. A carriage I 30 is preferably supported on member I28 by means of a top roller I3I and stabilizing rollers I32.

I provide means for moving and locking the carriage in any desired position on arm I28 by means of a hand piece I33 and a pin (not shown) which is controlled by the hand piece and adapted to engage any one of a number of spaced orifices I34; thus carriage I30 may be positioned any place along the length of arm I 28.

I provide a grapple fork, which in its entirety is designated by reference character E. This fork is similar to the conventional double acting multiple tined hay fork having a trip rope I35 and a lifting cable I36 which passes over a sheave pulley I 31 (the sheave pulley being rotatably mounted on member I30) and then to another sheave pulley I38 from whence it extends downwardly and over sheave I39 and to drum I43.

Sheave I 39 is rotatably mounted on bracket I40 which in turn is secured to box A by means of brace member MI and a transverse L-lron I42.

I provide a bracket I45 which rotatably supports a worm gear I43 and drum I43 to which gear I46 may be secured. A worm pinion I4! is rotatably mounted on shaft 40, the teeth of which m'esh the teeth in worm gear I46.

A clutch collar I48 is secured to worm pinion I41 and a clutch member I49-having teeth adapted to engage complementary teeth on member I48 is slidably splined on shaft 40. A lever I50 is pivotally mounted as at II, the lower end being forked and adapted to operatively engage member I49 as at I52, thus when lever I50 is moved rearwardly, the teeth in member I40 will When fork E contacts the material on the ground, it will be caused to embrace a suitable quantity and when the fork is lifted to the desired heightby pulling rearwardly on lever I50, it will be locked to member I30 after which the fork may be swung to any desired position over the box by means of lever Iand when necessary by moving member I on bar I28 and then released by pulling trip rope I 35.

It will be understood that member I30 will be free to move on member I28 after the fork is locked in its upper position, after which time the cable I36 will be free to permit this movement. A manually qierated crank or other means I53 is provided whereby drum I43 may be released from its connection to worm gear I46; thus to permit the automatic or manual unwinding of cable I for purposes which will be understood without further description.

It will be seen that the operator need only to manipulate levers I25 and I50 and trip rope I35 to pick up and release in the box a fork full of material.

Clutch members I48 and I49 are provided with beveled teeth which are held in mesh by pressure on lever I50, therefore under exceptional strains the clutch will slip and protect the loading mechanism.

Clearly many minor detail changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as recited in the appended claim.

Having thus shown and described my invention, I claim:

A device of the character described, comprising in combination an elongated box having carrying wheels mounted on opposite sides thereof and a forwardly extending hitch secured to the forward end of the box adapted to be attached at its front end to the draw bar of a tractor, a shaft rotatably mounted on one side of said box and,having an operating connection to the power take-off shaft be caused to engage the teeth in member I48,

thus to turn drum I43 and wind the cable on the drum. When lever I50 is moved forwardly, worm I41 will be disengaged from shaft 40.

of the tractor, a cable operated loading crane vertically rotatably mounted on said box intermediate the ends thereof and adjacent said shaft and having an operating connection thereto, said last operating connection comprising a drum having one end.of said cable secured thereto and a manually operated clutch having over load slip characteristics between the shaft and drum whereby the operator may cause the loading device to engage material on .the 'ground'and lift it when said clutch is engaged, manually operated means on said crane whereby the material in different positions on the ground may be lifted and delivered in different positions in the box.

HOWARD M. JOHNSTON. 

